Masks of Bone
by archangel-alchemist
Summary: The beginning of a series that I hope will continue a long time. This whole story is based off of a single Magic: the Gathering card and some original characters of mine. CONSTRUCTIVE criticism please.
1. Prelude

Smoke blackened the air.

"I still don't see why you had to get HIM involved." the gruff voice snarled.

The battlefield was littered with fires and fallen trees.

"This again, I can't believe you. I've already explained it. It was our masters' orders that he be a liaison between them, and that goes for us too. He must be the go between for us as well. One on your left." The woman's smooth voice explained.

The shriveled trees offered no cover and the fires and smoke threatened to choke everything.

"Still, you call me away for a whole year and leave that rat in charge. If a single stone from my castle is out of place I'll kill him." the gruff voice grumbled while cleaving the 'One on the left' in half. "Why didn't our masters just kill him when he spoke to them. He tricked them into his position and their power." he continued.

Their opponents lay on the ground lifeless. The battle had been waged for quite some time leading to much of the field being filled with bodies.

"He got less power from all of our masters combined than we did from each of them alone. He shouldn't be a problem to dispatch if needed." She calmly stated while drawing her bow to pierce through the skull of one of her foes and the one behind it. She lowered her bow and motioned that the next opponent was to be dispatched by her aide. "Though you are right it worries me that out of the four of us he is the only one to actually approach our masters."

Through the blackened sky not much was visible, just two masks. Glittering white despite the ash and soot that swirled around them.

"That's right, how is 'old whitey' doing?" he asked, while plunging his gauntlets into the heart of his opponent.

The two figures stood at the top of a small hill, a path worn from traffic into and out of the gate they were defending.

"Good, I guess. Something about tricking the people into believing he is a religious leader and summoning spirits to build chapels." the sweet voice recalled. She shot a bolt of light from her bow causing vines to spread through her opponents where she pierced the skin.

This path was the only access through the wall that the two warriors guarded. "Huh, sounds about right. Leave it to him to fight against minds instead of like a real man."

The man was short and hunched but had large muscles that contradicted his stature.

"Oh, really, fighting like a real man? How has that worked out for you in the past? How many got destroyed because of you?" she snarked while blowing a hole through the shield of the soldier charging at her.

The woman was tall and thin but moved fluidly and never wasted energy while attacking.

"Three, alright. But the fourth one worked and..." He paused, something had caught his attention. He jumped into the air and caught a boulder aimed at the wall that they were trying to defend. His gauntlets glowed a bright red as he flung the rock back at the catapult demolishing it and bowling over the soldiers in between. "But you called me away from the fifth one, and let him show up and take over."

The man's mask, while having no eye-holes, had pits where they would be and spines at the top for an intimidating presence.

"Sorry, I thought you would be happy."

The woman's mask, also without eyes was clean and elegant, smooth and symmetrical. At the back of the mask was a set of curved horns that held her long hair and kept it from her face.

"Happy, to see HIM!?" he looked quizzically at her while smashing two opponent's heads together and welding their helmets together.

The man wore regular clothes, for a goblin. His armor was a set of arm braces attached at the shoulders and connected to a pair of bladed gauntlets, all made of the same material that his mask was.

"No, not about that. About leaving that place where you have to tiptoe and be careful, to come here and let loose." she responded. The next arrow she launched grew in size so that the shaft of the arrow became as wide as a tree trunk by the time it barreled through a squad of knights.

She wore traditional elvish garb. It was a green dress with armor plating around the legs. She also carried a long bow nearly as tall as she was, crafted of the same material as her armor and mask.

"Let loose?" His gauntlets glowed fiery red. He scraped the dirt sending red veins through the ground at his opponents, melting the ground into magma, engulfing his enemies. "If that's the case then can't I,"

"I figured you wouldn't want this to be over so fast." she interrupted. "Not that you can't take out nearly as many as I can." She pierced five soldiers through the chest, taunting her ally.

"NEARLY!" He growled. He jumped into the air and fell back down gauntlets first into the ground. He vanished under the surface, tunneling.

She chuckled having seen this move before. She lowered her bow not wanting to be distracted for the oncoming fireworks.

Ginrokk had gotten past the outer lines and defenses and now he could see his target. He had seen her before,the elf girl, preaching in town about a better energy source, and she supplied it. Her energy source was pure mana in a condensed liquified form. It worked wonders, but she said to make more she would need space, a lot of space, the land currently behind her, behind that wall. She was given that land to create more of her wondrous elixir, but that wall was the problem. Sure she delivered on her promise, but once that wall went up there was trouble.

The space was cleared for her building projects but the wall went up first, she started buying land for more building space, and more walls. The ground around the walls began to dry up and die. The ground dying served two purposes: no one was able to climb the dead trees to see over her wall, and it allowed her to buy land at a cheaper price allowing her projects to expand.

Ginrokk dove to avoid an arrow of light and the vines that sprouted from its path.

She began asking for people to join her, help in her work of providing more elixir to the public. She told them the work would take a lot of their time, that they would live inside the wall. Few joined her at first but the quality did improve so more joined her and the quality improved further.

The people that joined her almost never returned to town, but when they did they were wearing a white mask and could not be identified. they stayed only long enough to pick up supplies and left again. When the families became frustrated with not being able to see their loved ones the elf girl decided that their families could move in with her workers. More people left town, more land was bought for working, and more walls were built.

Now the people she had hired, and their families, all wore the masks, all fought alongside her. Ginrokk had just fought against a swarm of masked people. He wondered how many he knew, used to know. Whoever was guarding her was the enemy now, he tried not to think about it as he slashed the neck of a masked enemy in front of him. Their movements were slow, not shambling zombie slow, just civilian slow. These people all lacked military training. The elf didn't want these people to win a war, or to make her elixir, she wanted them to slow down intruders. This was even more clear when he saw the elf shoot an arrow through five soldiers, and three of her own. What Ginrokk was intruding on he could only guess. The goblin the opponent had hired left her side, dug underground by the looks of it, was this a trap or a chance to strike?

Ginrokk heard a battle cry from behind him, his squad had seen the goblin leave her side and had decided this was the moment to charge. Ginrokk began to run towards his target when he tripped. A masked warrior that wasn't finished off was clinging to his heel. As he raised his arm to slash at the fiend a hand reached out and grabbed his. Another masked warrior tackled Ginrokk and brought him to the ground. More and more attackers gathered around while he saw a few others chase after his squad who were still charging at their target.

He regretted not being able to join in the fight against the woman who had done so much to destroy his home, but that thinking was cut short. At only a spear's throw away, the ground beneath his squad began to shift violently. The ground lurched upwards, heat increasing with every second, and began glowing a deep red. The earth exploded launching his squad along with magma and boulders high into the air. He tried to get into a covered position while still being pinned under the masked attackers.

The writhing above Ginrokk stopped as rocks and lava fell on the people that had pinned him, crushing and burning them. As Ginrokk pushed his way through the bodies piled on top of him, heaving them off to the side, he saw the destruction laid out in front of him. His squad was gone, buried beneath the now cooling rocks and ash. And he saw that if he was not covered by all of his attackers he would have surely fallen along with them. He looked around and saw that the large circle of death had decimated much of the surrounding area, a gaping hole in the ground still boiled with magma at its core. The dried dead trees had caught flame, threatening to block the sun with their smoke. Amongst the devastation something had caught his eye, a pristine white mask. With the dull red glow of the lava, the falling ash, and the smoke blackened sky, he almost couldn't see who it belonged to. He got a good look and realized that it was the goblin.

The red beast that had allied himself with the elf girl stood on a small rock at the center of the lava pit. He had caused this destruction, he has created this death. Ginrokk had seen geomancing before, the ability to move rocks and shape stone with magic, but nothing this violent. The creation of a volcano had to take a lot of power and this short, muscular red-skinned thing had done it.

Ginrokk surveyed the battlefield; the goblin, the elf, and himself were the only ones nearby. Ginrokk knew the next squad would be here in just a second. He checked the ground with his boot, testing its heat. He found that it had cooled enough for him to walk on.

He charged at his target, hearing footsteps behind him reassured Ginrokk that the next squad had arrived to offer assistance. The goblin had seen that not all of the opposition had been cleared out by his attack and ran to cut them off, but stopped suddenly. Ginrokk looked and saw the elf girl hold up her hand in a motion to stop her aide. The goblin backed down and allowed Ginrokk and his company to pass. The elf made another motion with her hand, but it was too late, thought Ginrokk. Another few seconds and he would have his blade at her throat, or so he thought.

The wall behind the elf, the wall she had been defending for the past couple of days, crumbled. The soldiers charging at her looked on in awe as not only did the wall shatter but so did the air. She had cast an illusion over the area behind the wall so no one who looked over the wall could see anything. Now, however, that illusion was gone and everyone could see what laid behind it.

Large floating ruins dotted the sky behind the walls. Ginrokk couldn't be sure what they were for but he was sure that it wasn't good. On the ground was something else entirely, hounds and behemoths all wearing white masks filled the field behind her, they trampled across the ground past the elf and towards Ginrokk and his men. Ginrokk was told that this was a battle to take back their land and exile the elf that had destroyed so much of his home, he was wrong, this had been a battle for survival the whole time. He had lost.


	2. Home

The heavy wood door swung open violently and banged against the wall. The person who opened it stood silhouetted in the doorway, foot outstretched from the kick that forced the door open. "Oops." The man lumbered in using both of his hands to carry a large box. "I didn't think I kicked it that hard." He placed the box in a corner and went out for another. 'A new job, a new place. This should be interesting.' he thought while bringing a few boxes in and placing them on a table. 'My research has been getting me nowhere, hopefully a new perspective will help.' He returned to the cart outside and tried to think of the most convenient way to carry the last few boxes. 'The cure for that plague has been eluding me. I'm sure there's a way to destroy it.'

He placed the last of his boxes on the floor ant headed back for the door. He motioned for the cart driver that he was done unloading and watched as the cart rolled away down the cobblestone street. He took a look down the street and noted the strategic location of his house. The alleys between houses had no entrances to his house and were not advisable for an ambush, except for the backdoor but that was an easy enough flaw to safeguard. His roof was higher than the ones next to it making it hard for anyone to climb in from there. After looking down the blocks he returned inside. The door latched with a satisfying 'clunk' behind him as he entered his new home. Even though his new job allowed him to live within the ruins, he believed there was something important to learn from living here. This town, something seemed important about it. He had begun unpacking the essentials; textbooks, notes, experiment results; the normal things.

That was weird, he thought he heard something. There it was again, a knock? Stunned, he turned towards the door. 'No one should know that I'm here, well, except for the original owner.' Thoughts raced through his head as he attempted to figure out who might be looking for him. 'Did they find out that the money I paid them was stolen. No description they could have gotten would have led anyone to me though. That's one bad thing about being me, you never have the local currency.' Kai was a planeswalker, a person who could travel the multiverse into different dimensions. He was currently in the world of Milark, the world was covered with lush landscapes and dotted with pockets of civilization. The five races of Milark live in relative harmony. The goblins roam the mountains, navigating the tunnels searching for ore. The ore passes through the forests home of the elves who attempt to keep the travelers safe as they pass through their land. The ore travels to the plains where the humans live and craft metal. The vampires stalk the darkness in all of these places searching for power wherever it may lay. There wasn't much fighting on Milark except for infighting between vampire clans, and it was during one such fight that Kai took the opportunity to steal enough money to purchase his new house.

He crept to the door, making sure not to make any sound as he peered through the eye-hole of the door, a feature he couldn't live without as far as he was concerned. He saw, black hair, familiar black hair. Whoever it was wasn't looking at the peep-hole in the door. She turned around to face him. She was in her early-twenties from the look of it, her black hair was in stark contrast to her pale skin, and her silver-blue eyes sparkled just a bit. He immediately recognized his guest and flung the door open. Her hand was raised as if to knock again. "Oh, hiyAAAAAH!" She screamed as he grabbed her arm and yanked her inside. He shut the door fast, but caught it before it slammed not wanting to draw any attention, as if her screaming hadn't already done that.

"What are you doing here!" he yelled in the best whisper he could muster.

"I needed to see you." she whispered back "What are you doing here, Kai? You have a place to stay at the ruins, why stay here?"

"There's something I need to figure out about this place. You shouldn't be out and about here it's not safe." he remarked turning back to the work papers he had unboxed. "People around here aren't used to people like you."

"Oh they're used to vampires, you just don't know how they'll treat me."

'That's true, here vampires are seen as either salvation or an omen depending on the person you talk to. It's a huge mess as far as I can tell.' He sat down in his only chair and began reading one of the pages "I don't want to see you in the middle of a vampire turf war."

"I can handle myself." She stated confidently. "But, how bad does it really get?"

"Here the vampires are the mafia. People want the vampire's immortality so they pledge their allegiance to them in hopes of becoming one. The battles between warring mafias can get pretty ugly." He stated, pleased with Selene's understanding. "Because they drink human blood they are also seen as demons that need to be slain, and humans are not going to let a vampire get away if they want one killed. I don't want you involved in any of that."

She beamed with the thought that he was concerned for her.

He continued with "You're the best mind-mage on my team, I need you for this."

Well concerned for part of her at least. She decided to take a look around his new place but was amazed to find it highly unfurnished. No bed, no food, just work supplies. "Aren't you going to live here?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"You don't have anything that you need. How are you going to sleep, or eat?" She questioned still looking around.

"Food I can get at work, and as far as sleep..." He looked up from the paper he was reading and realized the only furniture he had was the chair he was sitting in and the table which currently was covered in all of the boxes he brought in earlier. "... I'll figure something out."

She sighed knowing that he wouldn't change his mind. She looked around his new home and admired the ornate metalworking on the furniture. Although he had decided to settle for one of the less pricey neighborhoods the crafting was still exquisite. "I guess you need to craft if you want to survive in a place like this."

He flipped the corner of his paper down and looked over the top of it at her "So you've read my notes on this place then?"

"Of course. Humans here can't cast spells, whether this is due to a genetic defect or a curse on this plane no one can say." She recited as if she was reading out of a textbook. "People here need to be metalworkers in some way or another if they are expected to survive as equals amongst the elves, goblins and especially the vampires of this world." She paced back and forth as she remembered his notes on the subject. "Whether they mine, craft, or wield they understand the need to be prepared without the use of magic. Humans who don't have that luxury align with other species for protection, normally vampires due to the aforementioned hope of immortality." Kai straightened his paper back out as if in understanding, she could see his head nod in approval. She looked around the room noting how desolate it was. "...You should come home."

"What?"

"Come home, after this job. You have less than a year here right? You've been gone so long, just come back." She rationalized, hoping he would understand. By home she meant Ravnica, another dimension where Selene lived. Selene was not a planeswalker herself, Kai had a device that allowed mind-mages to take control of someone in a different plane. She was still on Ravnica, but her mind was on Milark. The entire plane of Ravnica is covered in a self sustaining city. Due to the wild diversity of spells available to learn, its massive amounts of shops and wares, and its easy to find location Ravnica is the base of operations for many planeswalkers, Kai included.

He stopped reading his notes and recalled just how long it had been since he left. He was sure he could take some time off and go home. "Okay."

"What? Really?"

"Yeah, I have been gone too long." He thought for just a second. "In fact, would you mind helping speed things up?"

"Sure, what do you need?"

He tossed her a small pouch that jingled when she caught it. "Why don't you stay here?"

She was stunned for a second. "W-with you?"

"I was thinking instead of me."

'That figures.'

"You could stay here and take notes, which would leave me available to work. I'd stay here after I get my project started, but until then you can furnish the place however you want... Just make sure no one finds out you're a vampire."

She was happy about being trusted to be left on her own in this new place. "I won't let you down."

He was glad that that was settled but his thoughts of "home" reminded him of how they met.


	3. Memory

That late at night only a few lights dotted the sky but they were enough to brighten the air with a soft glow. There was no horizon to be seen through the miles of city around, even at a few stories up. The cold night air nipped the already cool skin of the teen on the roof. The black outfit with dark blue accents showed allegiance to the guild I belong. 'How long are we going to sit here and watch this guy?' The voice I heard is not my own even though it was only thought. It was the voice of the teenage vampire boy whose mind I was connected to.

'Not long, we just need to figure out how much he knows.' This was also not my voice, it was the voice of an older human, only thought but it still came in clear to his team. His pitch black armor represented the shadows that the guild lurked in. 'Selene do you have a link with the target?' He thought to the young mind-mage on his team. Me.

My blue robe portrayed the color of mana that mind-mages use, it covered a black outfit that resembled the shadows in people's minds once I have done my work. I connected my mind to that of my target in the alley parallel to mine. I've got it.' I thought to my team.

We are Dimir agents, a guild of spies who use fear and memories as weapons, and someone was on our turf.

'... Well, what does he know?' The boy vampire questioned.

'I'm getting there... He's looking for us.'

The human peered around the corner at the target knocking at the stone wall of a building. The boxes and carts on the busy streets of Ravnica blocked his view and made this a much more crowded street than when it was originally built. 'Us specifically?'

'No, the Dimir. He heard there was a passage along this wall that led to guild territory.' I responded. I needed to keep my link with the enemy separate from the link with my team lest he realize multiple people sneaking around in his brain.

'Well someone's gonna pay for telling this jerk where to go.' The vampire sneered at the person tapping on the wall and getting closer to the brick that worked as a switch for the hidden door. 'Does he know that there are two bricks he needs to press?'

'No. Wait, maybe. He has a note to read once he finds the first switch.'

'What! A traitor told him about the second switch!' The vampire on the roof was seething at the thought of someone in their own guild betraying them. 'I'll kill him.'

'That is if this guy didn't already do that' The human on their team noted.

'No, he didn't. Well. I can't tell.'

'What do you mean you can't tell?' The vampire almost was yelling in his mind at this point.

'He doesn't have memory of it, or of who he meet with. Something's blocking me.' I was frustrated with myself.

'You can read his mind but not that part?' The human was leaning out of his cover and looking directly at the target who was only a few feet away from the brick he needed to press. 'I know it's easier to read minds when they are thinking of the subject you want to know about. Is there a way to force him to think about it?'

'No it's not that, he really has no memory of it... or it's being blocked extremely well.' I was confused as to how a memory just couldn't exist like this. 'One way or another we have to stop him before he reads the note and finds the entrance to the guild. How far is he from the switch?' Because of my position in the parallel alley I had only seen the intruder through the eyes of my team.

'Too close. It's time to go.' The vampire boy leaped off the roof, descending towards his target.

I watched through the eyes of my team and saw my human teammate round the corner unsheathing his heavy sword as he ran. The teen dropped from the roof onto his enemy daggers drawn from his sleeves. Or, at least, he tried to. At the last second the target jumped to the side, while in the air he grabbed the arm of the vampire and used his upward momentum to spin them both around in mid-air. The human on their team ran down the alley only to be stopped halfway by his teammate being thrown at him. The link to my team was cut off once they lost consciousness. I needed to check on my team but I wasn't sure where my opponent was located. I snuck towards where my human associate was hiding earlier.

I hugged the wall as I crept to where my friends landed. I peered around the corner where my ally had ran from just moments before and saw my team slumped in a pile on the ground. "No!" I gasped. That was a mistake. I suddenly felt pressure at my throat, a blade, by the feel of it.

"They're alive, for now. If you want to keep it that way I think you should answer some questions."

My opponent was positioned in front of me, just around the corner I was peering from. I looked at the stranger and his clothes. He was in his mid-twenties, had short brown hair, and green eyes. He was wearing a pale gray, mostly white outfit. A long coat covered much but I could see a large bag tied to his belt and sword handles. As an expert at gathering knowledge I took note of all this in little over a second, despite my predicament.

"I'm looking for the Dimir guild, the one you are a member of. I know this because I know you were the one looking through my mind earlier. I want to learn mind magic for a project of mine." The man stated rather upset by the assault from my allies.

I slid my hand into a hidden pocket on the inside of her coat. I had a short sword in there in case of something like this. My fingers barely touched the hilt of the blade when I felt weight at my arm.

"I also don't want you to do that."

I recognized the handle of the second blade as the sword my human friend used, which I assumed meant the blade at my throat was the vampire boy's dagger.

"I mean you no harm, I just want information. From my understanding the Dimir trade information right? If they give me the techniques I need I will give them the information I have."

He sounded reasonable but I was concerned about this 'Project' he mentioned. I stared at him, unable to do anything else. 'If I agreed I would be banned from the Dimir, if I denied I would be killed by this man.' I heard a sound in the background, the door my opponent had been looking for had opened and a few guild members had begun to shuffle out.

"It seems our chat is over." He had withdrawn the blades and dropped them. "Tell your master all I want is information." He turned to face the Dimir agents now encircling him, raising his hands in surrender. He began to walk forward when he stopped. "Also tell him I will only talk with you."

"Are you happy now?" I asked quite infuriated with the circumstances I found myself in.

"What took you so long?" He asked seeming quite smug despite his surroundings. "It's been, what about two months since we met? Why haven't you visited before this?"

"After your 'statement' the Dimir began to think I was the traitor. They searched my mind for a week and when they realized it was just you grandstanding they decided to put me on missions as far away from you as possible." I paced back an forth, unable to hide how furious I was with him. "I'm amazed you managed to keep your big mouth shut for so long."

"They had the ability to learn what they wanted from my mind while you were gone, why would I need to speak."

"Oh, yeah. ALL the information, except for some of your mind is missing completely. Black holes where time should be, there's barely any left." I had stopped pacing at this point and simply crossed my arms in disgust. "They're going to kill you, you know that right?"

"No, I don't believe they will." He said in response. "I've done nothing wrong and I said what they need to know. Besides they think I am important to learn from."

"Do you see the predicament you are in? Magic shackles that prevent you from casting spells, in a bunker you can't force your way out of, in a part of town you don't know the location of." I was quite upset with my captive at this point and wanted him to admit defeat.

"You can read my mind, you have been since you entered this room, what does it tell you?" He retorted.

I read his mind and was only more infuriated when I saw. 'If I can get my bag back I'll get my memories back, then none of that will stop me. Also, the Dimir don't want to kill me because they are trying to figure out why my mind won't allow them to access it, it's a learning experience for them. If others have the same ability I do they want to know how to combat it.' What pissed me off most was that he was right. "Fine, but about that bag of yours what is it with the notes?"

"I knew I was going to the guild full of mind-mages, if I left my mind intact when I did you would be able to glean all kinds of information from me for free. I had my mind extracted and placed in the notes that will only reveal themselves when I read them." He explained.

"So why don't you read a note right now and show me what we can learn." I placed a note on the table in front of him. He read the top corner of the note that stated "Brick Wall, B-20". I saw in his mind that this was step 20 in plan B to get a mind-mage on his team to assist him with his 'Project'. Apparently Plan A didn't work. He looked at the note and the runes on it began to replay the memory he had locked away.

He was in a crowded place and was speaking to someone about how to get into the Dimir guild through the secret passage along the wall where he was found. The man told him that after finding the first brick he would need to press a second brick up two rows and four to the left. He purposefully did not look at the speaker but Selene hoped they could find the traitor based on his voice. After the message had fully played came a vision of some notes she was sure were somewhere in his bag. 'If successful proceed to B-21, if failed read notes B-27, 49, and 50.' I rummaged through my pockets for a second note.

"That's all you get until I get some information." He told me. "I want to know what it would take to be able to negotiate the services of a mind-mage or for the knowledge of how to learn mind-magic."

"Dimir don't negotiate with people like you." I sighed. "You will be executed and we will get the information we want from your corpse."

"How about a deal then? In my bag is a coin purse filled to the brim. Enter me into a Rakdos tournament and put it all on me. If I win I go free and am allowed to bargain for the use of a Dimir agent, I'll even tell you how I've erased my mind to such an extent. If I lose, I'm dead. You win either way."

"The Dimir will not agree to a deal such as that. You will be poisoned tomorrow, you have 16 hours to change your mind." With that I left the room.


End file.
